Leofwine_draca Another year, another horror anthology, and this time it's the turn of 5 SENSES OF FEAR which unsurprisingly contains five short tales each based around one of the human senses. Like SCARY OR DIE or the V/H/S/ movies, this is acceptable stuff for horror fans, although it lacks the quality of something like TRICK 'R TREAT.The problem with 5 SENSES OF FEAR is not the production values, because they're actually decent for a change; although the stories were shot on the cheap and in a very short space of time, they look good and the calibre of both acting and direction is of an acceptable standard. There are no big names here, but then you don't go looking for them.The problem is that all of the stories are focused on delivering gore rather than true scares so that the scope ends up being rather limited. The first one, SMELL, is about a guy who comes into possession of a new and experimental perfume; this has a classic outcome and was my favourite of the five stories. The second one, SEE, involves some predictably nasty eye violence and very little else. The third, TOUCH, is about a blind kid who has a car accident and is the most atmospheric of the quintet, although the story is very slight. TASTE is an all-out gore effort set in an office, while LISTEN goes down the found footage route and isn't too shabby. All of the stories are acceptable, but I found them lacking in delivering proper horror themes or scares; is gore all the genre has to offer these days, I wonder?

genowhirl Just watch the opening sequence and you know you're in for a treat. This movie (1:30 long) is one of the most playful and enjoyable anthologies I've seen in a good while. I think what sets it apart from others is that it doesn't take itself too seriously and it knows it. All the stories are cleverly produced with rather good acting and effects, camera angles, etc. The only drawback is that, while it is very entertaining all the way through, it isn't necessarily entirely filled with horror. The up side to this is that we're given a wide spectrum of horror, suspense, and thriller so that it doesn't grow stale over time. There are 5 tales and they each feel as if you're being given a gift to open and enjoy. Pretty packaging, full content, and the stories are enthralling to say the least. It's easy to get into the stories and look forward to what's coming next. Even greater is the fact that they are all tied together with subtle clues as to how they are connected. But these subtleties are important enough to make you feel the connection in a very roundabout way such as in "Cabin in the Woods." I'll go into a brief synopsis of each tale so you can get an idea of what to expect (skip this if you'd rather know nothing going in, but I've kept it bare minimum):1. Smell - This tale is about a man who is down on his luck but picks up a special aroma that turns his life around, but at what price? As an opener, this one doesn't quite set the stage for what's to come. It's possibly the most playful of the 5 tales, but the ending is pretty funky fresh haha. This one is often considered a weaker tale, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's full-bodied and robust *see what I did there?* =D 2. Sight - This tale is about a lonely man who works as an optometrist and uses his machines to extract memories from his patients in order to enjoy their memories. He's a stalker basically, but when he finally takes certain matters into his own hands, trouble ensues. This one is rather short, but the build up is great and the finale is very enjoyable and somewhat psychedelic. It is chilling, gory to a degree, and creepy. The approach of sight on this one is very creative and engaging. 3. Touch - The best tale in my opinion, this one is about a blind boy who seeks help for his family after a car crash. This tale is amazing and feels so real and almost empowering as the boy makes his way through a rather troublesome environment. It's further strengthened by the boy's intelligence. 4. Taste - If you've paid attention to the clues throughout the film, this is where they lead you - what ties the tales together. This tale involves a young man who is offered a job for a strange company. Upon his arrival, things get a little. .. .distasteful. You'll never see this one coming, and it's a bit funny while also a tad gruesome. 5. Hearing - A found-footage attempt, this film involves a crew who's task is to compile some found footage into one film. The film involves a song that has lethal effects on it's listeners. This one is possibly the weakest. It is a great idea, but it lacks in proper execution. It's neat little way to end everything though I suppose. Not unenjoyable, but not really super enjoyable either. Keep in mind that these were filmed in roughly 4 days per tale, so the window wasn't large, but they did amazing considering.

TdSmth5 Chilling Visions has five stories based on the five senses.Smell. A mysterious but cheery sales lady appears at the door of some divorced loser and gives him a spray bottle of pheromones that will make him successful. It works but it also rots his skin where applied. He ends up dead and drops from his corpse are used to make more spray bottles.Sight. An ophthalmologist extracts some visual energy from his patients during eye exams and distills into drops that he then applies to his own eyes to see things his patients saw. He keeps dozens of bottles. When a pretty patient shows up beaten he asks her to send her abusive boyfriend. And with him he applied some mist to his eyes that drives him crazy. Violence between the two ensue.Touch. A family has a car accident out in the woods. The blind kid goes searching for help. He discovers the car was disabled due to a trap. He walks around, finds more traps, then a house where victims are who tell him of a villain who doesn't like to be touched. The kid leaves and runs into the crazy guy, who's also the boyfriend from the previous episode. But the kid is resourceful.Taste. A guy is taken in a limo to some corporation. He doesn't know where or why. Everyone acts weird. When he meets his appointment she offers him a job and warns him that if he refuses he'll be in some unspecified trouble. The job consists of him searching for and reassembling a song, a song that is said to kill the listeners. He refuses. The chick attacks him.Listen. Two video/sound techs and a camera girl receive some tapes about a Russian guy who composed a song that kills people who listen to it. The tapes involve a researcher in the past who's trying to get someone to play the song. They keep getting more tapes and time markers to reconstruct the whole thing. They succeed. In the tape everyone who plays the song gets sick. No one can finish it. Until the researcher destroys one player's ears. He plays the whole song and everyone in the room kill themselves. The two guys are afraid. The camera girl secretly uploads the song online.Chilling Visions has some good ideas and is somewhat original. But it just doesn't know how to effectively bring those ideas to screen. The first episode is filmed like a silly comedy complete with goofy and romantic music. The second episode wastes an intriguing idea and ends leaving you nowhere. The third episode has a good performance by the actor who plays the kid, it doesn't have any ideas but I guess is supposed to support the second story. The fourth is over the top and makes no sense but prepares you for #5 and gives you some background to the others. You see, in all of them there's hints of a corporation that is behind it all. Behind what? I guess in the end behind the attempt to kill everyone. The final episode is filmed in parts in POV style, plus the black and white footage of the researcher, but despite the style doesn't capture what should be pretty creepy. Overall, it would have been better had they worked out the purpose of the corporation a bit more. Or a bit less, it could have been like a surprise twist. Even though the stories are long enough, you can't really connect with any of the characters and that is a fatal flaw when you have stories that you don't know where they'll lead you.

HorrorHound1313 Saw this at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival last night. This is a very cool concept for an anthology film. There are five segments, each one representing a different one of the five senses. I thought all of the shorts had a very unique "voice." Each segment had an unexpected take on the sense that was portrayed. I enjoyed the look of the films. We were told that Claudio Rietti shot most of the segments. The only segment that looked "different" was the "HEARING" segment, but that's because it was found footage, so it worked. Surprisingly, each story had a very different tone, which was cool.A few notes on each segment (MINOR SPOILERS): SMELL: Had a bit of dark humor throughout. The director said he was inspired by Tales From the Crypt, and it felt like a lost episode of that show. This was a pretty intricate story with a lot of cool elements. Mixed funny/gross/dramatic in a fun and weird way. Great music. The director and the main actors from this segment were there for a Q&A afterward. Fun to hear them talk about doing the gore effects.SIGHT: I enjoyed the performance of the "evil boyfriend." This segment also had some cool "vision effects." I felt the ending was predictable. However, the concept was very original. Cool sound design.TOUCH: Great performance by the little boy. The villain is the same actor as the "evil boyfriend" in SIGHT. Not sure if it was supposed to be the same character? That was a little confusing. Overall, though, cool story with good tension throughout. Cool camera work and "blind POV" shots.TASTE: This one looked really cool. Neat location, interesting setup. Drags a bit in the middle. I was antsy waiting for what was going to happen. The main character is going to an interview at a strange corporation. We see characters from the other segments that presumably work for this evil corporation, but that's not explained very well. Cool, bloody ending.LISTEN: Nice play on the found footage concept. Felt sort of like a horror version of the Dharma Initiative tapes from Lost. Good chemistry between the two leads. The ending felt rushed or poorly executed and didn't quite work for me. But it was great until the finale.After the five segments, the film just ends. I was disappointed with the ending. We never get any explanation of how these shorts are tied together. We see characters from all the shorts appear at the evil corporation in the TASTE segment. Also, we hear about the "Watershed" company. But, it's never really explained how the characters or worlds fit together or what the intent of the evil corporation is. I would have loved one last little segment at the end to sort of wrap it all up and give us some answers.Overall, I think it was a solid effort by everyone involved. We were told that each segment had only 4 days to shoot and a very tight budget. Considering those facts, the quality is EXTREMELY impressive. There aren't that many "scares" in the movie. Horrific things happen, but overall it's more suspense/thriller with some gross-out gore moments. I think SMELL and LISTEN stood out the most, maybe because they were first and last and had the longest running times. However, I really liked all the segments. Most anthology films have one or two good segments, but every segment in this film had an interesting story, good characters, and great production value. Also, I'm glad I got to see this on the big screen with an audience. It was a crowd-pleaser.NOTE: 5 Senses of Fear was produced for the Chiller Network. I never watch that channel, because it's not HD, but I might make an exception to watch this again on May 31st.